The Order of The Sentinels.
The Order of The Learned.
The Order of The Writs.
The Order of the Cloth.
Angels.
Demons.

Trapped and isolated, the residents of Fates Keep come to realize that they are not alone…

In a world with two realities the imaginations of author’s Crystal Connor and Lori Titus are unleashed upon the unsuspecting people living in the Foothills of Mt. Empyreal and the fate of all the world hangs in the balance.

One town. One catastrophe. One story told two different ways. What started in the foothills of Mt. Empyreal could be the end of us all.

Excerpt from The End is Now by Connor Titus:

When deception and lies ascended to paradise, all silver-tongued and golden haired, Emerson was already dead, Jerrod was on earth, Jason was on patrol, and William, the youngest of the Celestials, was on duty.

Rythy was chained to her cell with irons of fire; the bars of her chamber had been fortified with the blessings from God himself and her wings had been clipped. She was fed, but only given enough to eat to sustain life … not strengthen it.

Regardless, William was terrified of her.

And more so of late as she no longer yanked her chains while hurling protest and insults. Instead, she sat, like a cat with her tail wrapped around her feet.

He liked it better when she acted like a caged animal.

William hadn’t seen Emerson or Jerrod for days, but was just as relieved when he looked up from the logbook and saw Dianna.

Looking into her golden face was like being roused from some terrible dream. “Boy, I am sure glad to see you; did you come to audit the log?”

He turned the book so that she could see it. There was only one problem, the officer he was speaking to was not Dianna.

“Oh, William, I almost forgot,” Dianna started as she rounded the corner and came face to face with her…self.

Rythy started laughing, and with impeachable timing and flawless execution, all hell broke loose in heaven.

Washington State native Crystal Connor has been terrorizing readers since before Jr. high School and loves anything to do with monsters, bad guys, rogue scientific experiments, jewelry, sky-high high heel shoes & unreasonably priced hang bags. She is also considering changing her professional title to ‘dramatization specialist’ because it’s so much more theatrical than being just a mere drama queen.

I would say its romantic in that psychotic stalkerish sorta way, because when a book is really good I don’t want to do anything else but read it to the very end. I nearly starved myself to death during the 11 days it took me to read Stephen King’s Under The Dome, lol

2) When did you first start writing and what was the first thing that you wrote that you were proud of?

I’ve always told really creepy stories I used to love scaring the heck out of my siblings and friends but I didn’t start writing them down consistently until I was in Jr. High. And of course becoming published was a pretty big deal for me, as it surely is for everyone. And it feels the same for every book, it’s just so much fun. I am having a blast.

3) Please describe your work ethic as an author.

My work ethic as a writer is hectic and irrational. Sometime I will be up for days writing to the point where my eyes feel like sand paper and my hand swells up to the point where it hurts to hold a pen, and then other times I go weeks without writing anything. There’s no rhyme or reason to the way I write.

4) How do you balance your work as an author with the other aspects of your life?

In 2011 I quit my job to write full time and there really hasn’t been any balance since. I spend 90% of my time either writing or brainstorming on ways to market on a shoestring budget. Luckily my family and close friends understands this completely and don’t give me a hard time when I miss dinner gatherings or social events, plus they don’t freak out if they don’t hear from me for long stretches of time.

I have a really good support base and Lord knows I couldn’t do this without them.

5) Why did you write this book?

Like with all the books and short stories I’ve written prior, my sole purpose is to entertain people with bone-chilling, high octane, top notch horror, science fiction or dark fantasy. The End is Now is an opportunity that didn’t knock on my door, it kicked it in. I had been wanting to expand a short story from And They All Lived Happily Ever After! called The Parish. When my co-author Lori Titus sent me the writing prompts that jump started our project it was everything I need to do just that.

But it ended up being so much more than that because we ended up co-writing two books that take place in the same town, with the same characters. These books are not a part one and two, they are not continuation of the same story … they are two standalone books that you can either read back to back or months, even years apart.

Even after all this time we are still pretty amazed that we were able to pull this off. The title to the other book is Guardians of Man: Black Feathers Fell in the Foothills of Mt. Empyreal.

6) What experiences from your past do you find yourself drawing upon repeatedly for inspiration in your work?

I draw inspiration from just about everything. The things I saw and learned about while traveling throughout Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The awe inspiring, sometimes frightening things that young children says, a partially overheard conversation, the expression on someone’s face … it really does come from everywhere.

7) What do you hope to accomplish in the next five years, both as an author and in your outside life?

In the next five years it would be nice to have built a fairly large fan base to the point where I am a house hold name in horror, to be contacted with request to attending conventions as a guest of honor. And I’d also like to be travelling outside of my country again, revisiting countries I’ve already been to as well as exploring Europe.

8) Since you are a storyteller, please tell one good lie about yourself.

Well here’s the thing. There’s a huge difference between writing fiction and telling a lie. A lie is born out of intention and that intention is to deceive someone.

A fictional story isn’t written with the intent to deceive or mislead it is presented as a work of the imagination, not a statement of fact, so right off the bat the reader knows that the story isn’t real and therefore isn’t being lied too.

You wouldn’t believe it if someone came up to you and told you that they were from 20 years into the future, yet they’re believable within a science fictional world about time travel.